"Take that Calgary Puck!" — SN960 and Calgary sports media discussion

[Rejean31]

Originally Posted by Deelow

I think this station has failed the audience (outside of the morning show) by allowing too many young broadcasters on the air. I know....budgets, declining revenues ect. But all you have to do is listen to TSN 1260 in Edmonton for 10 minutes to hear a much superior product. The main reason for that is that TSN has seasoned broadcasters with a little bit of life experience. Hosts that can remember sporting events prior to 1998. This bunch of 20 somethings (Pat excluded) that run the show in the afternoon do not resonate with anyone 35+, which is a large part of the target demo. You've got 4 guys on in the afternoon and not one of them is old enough to remember the Flames winning the cup. That is strange to me.



Additionally, the technical quality of The Fan is terrible since these guys starting working from home. Delay and tinny microphones should be an embarrassment for one of the biggest communications companies in Canada. Everyone else seems to have figured it out.

Well, if you consider ass kissing every home town team a superior product, I guess. Personally, I don't think anything coming out of Edmonton is a superior product to something in Calgary.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Deelow

I think this station has failed the audience (outside of the morning show) by allowing too many young broadcasters on the air. I know....budgets, declining revenues ect. But all you have to do is listen to TSN 1260 in Edmonton for 10 minutes to hear a much superior product. The main reason for that is that TSN has seasoned broadcasters with a little bit of life experience. Hosts that can remember sporting events prior to 1998. This bunch of 20 somethings (Pat excluded) that run the show in the afternoon do not resonate with anyone 35+, which is a large part of the target demo. You've got 4 guys on in the afternoon and not one of them is old enough to remember the Flames winning the cup. That is strange to me.

That is because you are old.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[timbit]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

That is because you are old.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

Whoa! Full stop!

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Deelow

Additionally, the technical quality of The Fan is terrible since these guys starting working from home. Delay and tinny microphones should be an embarrassment for one of the biggest communications companies in Canada. Everyone else seems to have figured it out.

I tuned in yesterday for the first time in months. The technical quality is embarrassing. I know remote setups from home can’t be easy. But the mic quality and the differences in mic levels shouldn’t be beyond the ability of a commercial broadcaster to fix.

[RM14]

The morning podcast links are a mess today. The Pinder Report is doubled from Thursday, lot's of clipped segments and no full show link.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

That is because you are old.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

He’s right, though. The only guy still working at the station who worked there in 2004 is Kirsch.

Sports is by its nature historic. You have a bunch of people talking sports who were not alive or aware of most of the major sports events of most of their listeners lives.

It’s like a movie critic whose frame of reference begins in 1995 - you’re missing a lot.

And it doesn’t help that the talent they do have are interchangeable guys in their mid 20s.

[CliffFletcher]

The age thing is a problem with journalism in general these days. You have some long-timers hanging on to reach retirement, but the job otherwise skews young because the pay is so bad. By their mid-30s journalists are looking for real jobs that can support a family. But there are always new graduates eager and able to work cheap. So out with the 37 year old looking for a raise and in with the 26 year old three years out of broadcasting school.

[mikeecho]

I laugh at how Stephen Brunt can sound crisp like he's in my living room but all the hosts working remotely sound like they're stuck in a well. I get that Brunt likely has a nice remote set up cause he's a big timer, but it's still embarrassing how bad the others sound.


Don't even get me started on the "Eric Francis" show quality. It's his hour and I can't recall a time when he didn't sound like he was using speakerphone on his iphone in his car. Simply brutal.

[BeltlineFan]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

He’s right, though. The only guy still working at the station who worked there in 2004 is Kirsch.

Sports is by its nature historic. You have a bunch of people talking sports who were not alive or aware of most of the major sports events of most of their listeners lives.

It’s like a movie critic whose frame of reference begins in 1995 - you’re missing a lot.

And it doesn’t help that the talent they do have are interchangeable guys in their mid 20s.

I'm 34. Boomer, Pinder, Warrener, Deforest, Steinberg and Kirch are all older than me. So it's Klein, Nault and Logan Gordon that are in their mid 20s?

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Yeah the talent isn't nearly as young as people are making it out to be.

I don't want to hear some old timer ramble on about hockey. I'm happy with the hosts being in that 25-45 range.

When I think of older TV guys, I immediately think of John Shannon (crusty old man), Doug MacLean (confused old man), Don Taylor (moron), Cherry (nuff said), Ron Maclean (nuff said), etc.

Can't think of many radio guys who were well past their prime except Mike Rogers. He seemed to get kinda pessimistic and disgruntled towards the end of his run. Like he'd lost passion for the game or had become so accustomed to the Flames defeat that he was the eternally negative guy.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Yeah the talent isn't nearly as young as people are making it out to be.

I don't want to hear some old timer ramble on about hockey. I'm happy with the hosts being in that 25-45 range.

When I think of older TV guys, I immediately think of John Shannon (crusty old man), Doug MacLean (confused old man), Don Taylor (moron), Cherry (nuff said), Ron Maclean (nuff said), etc.

Can't think of many radio guys who were well past their prime except Mike Rogers. He seemed to get kinda pessimistic and disgruntled towards the end of his run. Like he'd lost passion for the game or had become so accustomed to the Flames defeat that he was the eternally negative guy.

You can’t spell “old timers rambling” with “radio”.

When you hang around pro sports for 30, 40, 50 years, you collect a lifetime of great stories that you can draw on to fill time. You get to see big figures at big moments doing incredible things. Stories you can’t possibly touch with your experiences at SAIT broadcasting school.

Radio is storytelling, at the end of the day; I think the last natural storyteller the Fan had was Kerr.

Peter Maher was a masterful storyteller.

Who tells a good story on the Fan?

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

You can’t spell “old timers rambling” with “radio”.

When you hang around pro sports for 30, 40, 50 years, you collect a lifetime of great stories that you can draw on to fill time. You get to see big figures at big moments doing incredible things. Stories you can’t possibly touch with your experiences at SAIT broadcasting school.

Radio is storytelling, at the end of the day; I think the last natural storyteller the Fan had was Kerr.

Peter Maher was a masterful storyteller.

Who tells a good story on the Fan?

End of the day it is all personal preference. I absolutely couldn’t stand Rob Kerr and think the Fan improved when he left.

I’ve listened to 1260 when in Edmonton for work and it is a no good station.

Who wants to hear stories from decades ago? The odd time it is alright but I don’t care to hear the radio hosts talk about things from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s.

In my opinion the FAN’s problems would be fixed switching Pinder and Nault again. I would like Nault in a punching bag role as I literally can’t stand 90% of his takes and the sound of his voice. Pinder and Steinberg were a very good fit together and had an entertaining show.

End of the day I will likely listen during the hockey season regardless because I love the Flames but I definitely do not think hiring a bunch or gray beards is going to improve the product.

[Deelow]

Originally Posted by Rejean31

Well, if you consider ass kissing every home town team a superior product, I guess. Personally, I don't think anything coming out of Edmonton is a superior product to something in Calgary.

Haha you've been consistent with that for as long as you've been posting here.

[Jables16]

Nault in the morning would just ruin the show again, as people seemed to unanimously think. I don't listen to the afternoon show but it sounds like he's awful there as well, so why is he even on the radio? If no one wants to hear him in any role he's given why does he still have a job? Is there really no one else they could bring in?

[Deelow]

Will just reminded us he was 7 years old when Brathwaite was here!

[Flashpoint]

Only slightly related - if you haven't ready Brian Burke's book "Burke's Law", do yourself a favor and pick it up. It's written by Brunt, and it's pretty much a masterwork for hockey fans to read.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Jables16

Nault in the morning would just ruin the show again, as people seemed to unanimously think. I don't listen to the afternoon show but it sounds like he's awful there as well, so why is he even on the radio? If no one wants to hear him in any role he's given why does he still have a job? Is there really no one else they could bring in?

Matty Rose would easily be a better option than Nault. Actually, any random stranger off the street would likely be better as no Nault is a net positive. His takes are as annoying as they are unintelligible and shortsighted. Which daycare did Kirsch visit to find this guy?

[SuperMatt18]

Nault to me would be a decent late night guy.

He already kind of has discussions on his own as it is, so he can sit just there and talk to himself, would be nobody else there for him to interupt.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Nault to me would be a decent late night guy.

He already kind of has discussions on his own as it is, so he can sit just there and talk to himself, would be nobody else there for him to interupt.

Kind of true. He does contradict himself from time to time. He went from copying every Steinberg angle to being the ill-advised hot take machine.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Kind of true. He does contradict himself from time to time. He went from copying every Steinberg angle to being the ill-advised hot take machine.

“Season is not going to happen”
“No one will be picked on waivers”

He is so adamant on his takes and I always thought he sounds like he is drunk when he talks. I could only imagine how he actually sounds when he is drunk I bet he slurs every single word.

It bothers me more than it should but I want to go to one of those listener panels to air my displeasure with him. Just terrible.